Top 198 Quotes by John Updike

About John Updike

These are some quotes by American author John Updike Novelist, who lived between March 18, 1932 and January 27, 2009.

The Founding Fathers in their wisdom decided that children were an unnatural strain on parents. So they provided jails called schools, equipped with tortures called an education.

The Founding Fathers in their wisdom decided that children were an unnatural strain on parents. So they provided jails called schools, equipped with tortures called an education.

John Updike

I think books should have secrets, like people do.

I think books should have secrets, like people do.

John Updike

I seem most instinctively to believe in the human value of creative writing, whether in the form of verse or fiction, as a mode of truth-telling, self-expression and homage to the twin miracles of creation and consciousness.

John Updike

Inspiration arrives as a packet of material to be delivered.

Inspiration arrives as a packet of material to be delivered.

John Updike

I love my government not least for the extent to which it leaves me alone.

I love my government not least for the extent to which it leaves me alone.

John Updike

In a city like New York, you're aware of the rich and poor.

In a city like New York, you're aware of the rich and poor.

John Updike

I didn't need to write historical epics, no, or science fiction, though I read a lot of science fiction as a kid and rather liked it. But I didn't have the mentality.

I didn't need to write historical epics, no, or science fiction, though I read a lot of science fiction as a kid and rather liked it. But I didn't have the mentality.

John Updike

My last vivid boyhood fright from books came when I was 15; I was visiting my uncle and aunt in Greenwich, and, emboldened by my success with 'The Waste Land,' I opened their copy of 'Ulysses.' The whiff of death off those remorseless, closely written pages overpowered me. So: back to soluble mysteries, and jokes that were not cosmic.

John Updike

To guarantee the individual maximum freedom within a social frame of minimal laws ensures - if not happiness - its hopeful pursuit.

To guarantee the individual maximum freedom within a social frame of minimal laws ensures - if not happiness - its hopeful pursuit.

John Updike

When I write, I aim in my mind not toward New York but toward a vague spot a little to the east of Kansas.

When I write, I aim in my mind not toward New York but toward a vague spot a little to the east of Kansas.

John Updike

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